FIFA World Cup Finals 1958 to 2026 Best Young Player Award
List of the Best Young Player awards by the Year of the World Cup. The FIFA World Cup Best Young Player was awarded for the first time at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany and given to Germany’s Lukas Podolski. At every Football World Cup , the award is given to the best player in the tournament who is at most 21 years old. The election took place on FIFA’s official World Cup website with the help of The FIFA Technical Study Group. FIFA also organised a survey on the Internet for users to choose the “best young player” of the World Cup, between the years 1958 and 2002, which appears in the list of World Cup Best Young Players.
| Year & Venue | Player | Age | Nation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1958 Sweden | Pelé | 17 |  |
| 1962 Chile | Flórián Albert | 20 |  |
| 1966 England | Franz Beckenbauer | 20 |  |
| 1970 Mexico | Teófilo Cubillas | 21 |  |
| 1974 West Germany | Władysław Żmuda | 20 |  |
| 1978 Argentina | Antonio Cabrini | 20 |  |
| 1982 Spain | Manuel Amoros | 21 |  |
| 1986 Mexico | Enzo Scifo | 20 |  |
| 1990 Italy | Robert Prosinečki | 21 |  |
| 1994 United States | Marc Overmars | 21 |  |
| 1998 France | Michael Owen | 18 |  |
| 2002 South Korea/Japan | Landon Donovan | 20 |  |
| 2006 Germany | Lukas Podolski | 21 | |
| 2010 South Africa | Thomas Müller | 20 | |
| 2014 Brazil | Paul Pogba | 21 | |
| 2018 Russia | Kylian Mbappé | 19 | |
| 2022 Qatar | Enzo Fernández | 21 |  |
| 2026 North America | Pau Cubarsí | 19 |  |
About the author: Paul Yarden
Paul Yarden founded MyFootballFacts (MFF) in April 2009, after decades of collecting football data and statistics. A devout football fan, Paul follows the beautiful game around the world. As MFF’s main statistician and chief editor, he creates data reviews, daily football quizzes, and writes numerous articles. Renowned for his ability to spot trends, Paul is often described as a walking…